Most fictional characters come fully assembled by the author. For Tom, the 15-year-old hero of Martine Leavitt’s new novel, some assembly is required – by Tom himself. He has landed on the streets of Calgary with no memory of who he is: only a first name, a candy with the words “you’re nice” on it, a notebook with scribblings about an opera called The Magic Flute, and fresh blood on his jeans. Out of these scraps, he must remake an identity.

Leavitt is well known as a YA fantasy writer, and Tom Finder has fantastic elements, but they aptly reflect Tom’s psychological state. His new life has a surreal Alice in Wonderland quality: characters fade and pop up again like Red Queens and Cheshire cats. Mozart’s opera plot winds throughout, and there are Shakespearean echoes as Tom falls in with the Lear-like Samuel Wolflegs, a man unhinged by grief who asks Tom to find the son he has driven away. For Tom can find things: shelter, food, a warm blanket. He finds ways to handle violence and sadness: “Tom knew a trick. He separated his mind from his body.” That same trick has apparently cut him off from his past. But Tom has faith that he’ll soon be back home, and he’s cheerfully confident his family will be a normal and happy one.

The book leaps out of the starting blocks and seldom slows. Tom will engage readers from the first page, both as a voice and a mystery. Leavitt’s last book, The Dollmage, was nominated for the Manitoba Library Association’s Best Books for Young Adults award; Tom Finder confirms she’s a writer to watch.